In some suttas, the words of Buddha suggest that there is still a preference for some states than others, and that he would mind providing efforts for nothing. Regarding parinibbana, this would be unrelevant because there isn't plurality of states of mind...
I choosed two excerpts of suttas that boggle me a little, could someone answer the questions following ?
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe13/s ... ge_84_fr_1Then in the mind of the Blessed One, who was alone, and had retired into solitude, the following thought arose: 'I have penetrated this doctrine which is profound, difficult to perceive and to understand, which brings quietude of heart, which is exalted, which is unattainable by reasoning, abstruse, intelligible (only) to the wise. This people, on the other hand, is given to desire, intent upon desire, delighting in desire. To this people, therefore, who are given to desire, intent upon desire, delighting in desire, the law of causality and the chain of causation will be a matter difficult to understand; most difficult for them to understand will be also the extinction of all samkhâras, the getting rid of all the substrata (of existence1), the destruction of desire, the absence of passion, quietude of heart, Nirvâna! Now if I proclaim the doctrine, and other men are not able to understand my preaching, there would result but weariness and annoyance to me.'
-> Can a Buddha experience weariness and annoyance ?
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.htmlAnd thus Ven. Angulimala became another one of the arahants.
Then Ven. Angulimala, early in the morning, having put on his robes and carrying his outer robe & bowl, went into Savatthi for alms. Now at that time a clod thrown by one person hit Ven. Angulimala on the body, a stone thrown by another person hit him on the body, and a potsherd thrown by still another person hit him on the body. So Ven. Angulimala — his head broken open and dripping with blood, his bowl broken, and his outer robe ripped to shreds — went to the Blessed One. The Blessed One saw him coming from afar and on seeing him said to him: "Bear with it, brahman! Bear with it! The fruit of the kamma that would have burned you in hell for many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years, you are now experiencing in the here-&-now!"
-> Why did the Buddha feel the need to advice Angulimala to bear the pain ? In the first hand, you would think that an arahant can't do anything wrong, and that he has the wisdom to know how to behave. And in the second hand, it is strange to think about an arahant "bearing" something, if we consider that there is no more suffering for him. I would think that pain cannot affect his mind anymore, and that he wouldn't need to "do" something about it (the "bearing" should be natural, and it shouldn't even be called "bearing").